Peter never sought the company of others, in fact, he was as popular as they got, people approached him throughout his entire sixteen of existence to ask him to be in their lives.
He never minded being surrounded by any number of people at all times, he actually needed them around him, as otherwise he always felt alone and alien.
Thinking on this made him even sadder than he was, he was an alien, a real out of this world creature, and his parents were some kind of spies to some alien world.
He walked silent, listening to the patter of the rain around him, oblivious to how wet he became by the minute.
Agartha, the name meant nothing to him, yet now it would keep him company through this dark night, perhaps he would feel less lonely by thinking on his alien origins.
He sighed as he pushed the sands with his shoe, fat chance that he would get any company for this dark night. The cabins by the shore stood in rows with their neat small porches and their neat green doors as a silent invitation.
Peter searched with his eyes the shore cabins, most of them were built tens of years before he was born, yet they stood as a mark of the ambition of men.
He wanted one that looked abandoned and decrepit, this would be a good place to spend the night.
The abandoned one usually had no owners as in the owner died a long time ago, or traveled or just quit on the place, and this would make it a perfect place to break into and spend the night.
The search didn’t take long, one had a broken window and a door that lost all of its color with a crack around where the lock used to be.
He faced the danger of entering into one of the cabins where the unsavory elements used to hide away from the law, but he then laughed, he was an alien, how more unsavory could he be?
Peter approached the door and pulled. It held. He looked around its frame in the faded moon light from above and found a rusted chain holding the door to the frame.
He stood for a moment to contemplate the whole situation. He could break the chain with a rock, as he was now certain that he would be the only occupant of the cabin. But then again, the police men usually patrolled the beach and would notice that the door stood open.
He kneeled down and took a rock slightly bigger than his palm and hammered fast at the chain, soon, it broke. He reasoned that he could use the chain to pull the door to keep at least ajar.
Pete entered the cabin, as expected, it was dark, no electricity, and it had a single moldy and broken bed at a single corner. Otherwise the cabin was void of anything that would entice human company to entertain using it.
Peter laughed, he couldn’t really county himself as human anymore, perhaps he should ask his parent to introduce him to the other aliens around the country, at least he would have more weirdoes to join him for company.
He sat on the floor as he couldn’t bring himself to sit on the bed. It was wet, and very cold, apparently the rain outside.
Peter pulled the remains of the curtains and what ever laid on the corner of the bed which he assumed was a bed sheet, bundled them and sat over them.
Still, too cold to sleep.
He decided he could hazard a small fire. For the next thirty minutes, he combed the beach for any pieces of wood, gathered a good quantity, and went back to the cabin.
Another half an hour passed, and he had a good sized fire to warm himself on.
He sighed and hugged his knees to try to sleep.
“I am sorry, it is very cold out here.” A man stood dripping by the entrance of the cabin. “Would you mind some company?”
Peter was worried at first when he saw the man by the door, then he smiled, he wanted company, and here he had some. He didn’t have to spend the night alone anymore.
“Please, come in.” Peter ushered the man to enter. “I would be more than happy for the company.”
“Thank you.” The man harried inside and dropped opposite Peter by the edge of the fire.
“You don’t look like the type who usually squat in these cabins.” The man put his arms over the fire, dripping slowly over it.
“I don’?” Peter scoffed. “They have a specific appearance then?”
“Yeah, they don’t wear such expensive coats.” The man reached to touch the hem of Peter’s coat, wetting it in the process.
Peter inched towards the bed with his back, perhaps having no company was better than having a dangerous one.
“Don’t be scared, young man.” The man gave him a toothy grin, water dripping around his smile. “I was complimenting you, no bad intentions.”
“Haha.” Peter gave him a nervous laughter. “Thank you then.”
“So, you from around here?” The man turned his hands over the fire, still dripping.
Peter was about to tell him that he lived a few blocks away, then remembered the fight between his parents. “No, I am from a completely different world.”
“I could tell.” The man laughed, and water drops flew all over the place from his shaking. “Me too, I am from another world.”
“Good company then.” Peter was too scared to sleep, and he thought that if he could get the man to continue talking, the night would pass fast and he could seek one of his friends to spend the next night with. Any company of people he knew would do.
“Yeah, I guess.” The man kneeled by the fire to warm his torso, but he was still dripping over it, and the wood started to hiss where it went too wet to light. “You know, the owner of this cabin was a hero.”
“You know him?” Peter leaned to check the wood, and he noticed several spots that were completely wet.
“Everybody does, he lost his life trying to save his two daughters.” The man pointed a wet and dripping hand to the share behind him. “He drowned right there, a hundred feet away from the shore.”
Peter didn’t care for the story of the owner of the cabin, but he was starting to be very concerned about his recent company, the man dripped water like hell, even though at least ten minutes had passed since he sat by the fire.
“From the looks of the cabin, I would say the whole family perished that day.” Peter pushed the wood around for the fire not to go out.
“You are a liar!” The man jumped to his feet. “He did save his daughters, they survived the sea!”
The started to drip water all over the place, so much water, that the fire went out.
“I am sorry if I offended you.” Peter started to stand as well, he swallowed hard. “But you have been sitting with me for more than ten minutes and you are completely wet, all that water put out the fire. This is not normal.”
“But it is.” The man started to laugh maniacally. “Don’t you know that drowned people could never get dry?”
Peter bolted out of the cabin chased by the insane laughter.
From Another World.
If you liked this story, be sure to check the first part here: All That Water, part 1, and other stories like it here: Small Monster, and From Hell.
Please support our efforts by buying and reading one of our published books: